Harry Potter and the Shadow of Despair
by kurama idol
Summary: CHAPTER 1,2 DRASTICALLY CHANGED! Harry, Hermione, and Ron set out on a journey to save the world from Voldemort and his allies. Along the way, they meet a girl who hides dark secrets and who may be able to help defeat the unspeakable horrors.
1. Default Chapter

**Harry Potter**

**and the**

**Shadow of Despair**

**Disclaimer: I know that J.K. Rowling and her publishers own the Harry Potter series. I don't intend to make any money off this story; I _do_ intend to give myself something to do when I'm bored.**

This story takes place after Sirius is killed (in the fifth book).

A teenage boy sat staring out of his window, a girl stared at a blank roll of parchment absentmindedly, and another boy with a shock of red hair sat thinking about Quidditch.

No one right then had any idea what would happen later, or what terrors awaited the naïve students. No one, that is, except a girl several hundred miles away, nursing her terrible wounds and her grudges. But even that girl didn't know of the exact troubles heading her way. She guessed, and she guessed wrong.

There was no going back now, not that there ever was. Many, many people would go through amazingly horrifying experiences. Many would not get through them alive. Through it all, no clear good and bad would exist, nothing but grayness of spirit.

**A.N.: I know it's incredibly short, but it's just something to get me motivated. Longer chapters will definitely follow, but _long_ chapters…well, that's another story. Later on, the rating may change to K+ or T, but that's only because of spell torture. R&R my other chapters, ppl!**


	2. Chapter II

**Harry Potter and the Shadow of Despair**

**Chapter II **

**Disclaimer: I know I don't own this…please don't remind me.**

Harry stared at the calendar, counting the days left until he would be able to go back to school. It seemed like it would take forever, but in reality, it would only be about a week more and then he would be free. His eyes trained on the calendar, and he traced the mark over the day he had just crossed off. He realized that he must look like a complete idiot and moved to do other things.

He hadn't had many problems with the Dursley's this year. The most he did was avoid them when he could, and try not to think about what they were saying unless it was indescribably important.

They, in turn, tried to forget he was there, even going so far as to forget to feed him on occasions. This was quite aggravating for Harry, but he'd managed to scavenge some preserved foods from Ron after sending a post. He also happened to gain a couple of other foods, most of which were delicious, from Ron's mom. Ron had sent an accompanying letter with the note stating which foods he'd sent and which ones his mom had insisted on including.

Speaking of which, Hedwig was taking an awful long time to hunt. She'd been gone for about two days now, which generally meant that she'd decided to drop by Hermione or Ron's house and catch up with them. Sometimes she would come back followed by Pig, Ron's owl. Those were not the best of times for Harry, but they were certainly the memorable.

Harry opened his window, and let the hot August air in, preferring it to the stuffy hot air he already had in his room. He sat on his bed wishing for a nice cool breeze.

The teenage girl looked out from behind a bush on the street. She calmed her breathing by force of mind but couldn't stop her heart from beating a mile a minute. Staring at the pavement on the road was becoming increasingly tedious, but she was used to waiting. Her whole life was made up of sequences in which she was lingering somewhere, generally wishing that she could be somewhere else. All in all, she wasn't surprised, considering the position she was in.

With any luck (which she sincerely doubted she had any speck of), she would soon be out of this town on a plane to a different area, a safe place free from those who were after her. A haven would exist for her…until they followed her and rendered it useless. Judging from past experiences, her pursuers would catch up to her in a given time, but she was going to make the time she had last.

Her mind was jerked to an awakening by the sight of one of her hunters situated in the shadows of a bustling market. She cursed herself, wondering if she had left some telltale tracks behind her. She slowly and cautiously got into a crouch, and then disappeared into the bushes behind her, coming out into a deserted dirt lot. She glanced to her left, and then sprinted through the lot in the direction she remembered the airport was located.

If she had looked to her right, even for a fleeting moment, she would have seen eyes glinting with a deep malice. If she had looked, she might have saved herself. If she had looked, things might have turned out differently for her.

Harry looked up as an owl came sweeping down. He couldn't quite make out if it Hedwig or not, what with the sun glaring behind it. Soon enough, his hopes dropped of it being Hedwig as he saw it had feathers the color of caramel. _Must be the school owl_, he thought.

He skimmed through the new reading list, and sighed, thinking of how he was going to have to ask the Dursleys for a ride to get his supplies. _Well, at least I have the chance to get away from them for a while, _he thought. _I might even see Hermione or Ron._ That was something he could look forward to; it didn't matter, as long as it was something happy.

His thoughts drifted to the Order. Recently (from what little he could gather), they had been pretty much inactive, or so they said. (He personally knew they wouldn't be doing nothing. Not by a long shot.) He had basically given up trying to talk about the Order, as it was exceedingly hard to think up of ways to code his words so that only Ron and/or Hermione knew what he was talking about.

Hermione had spent part of her summer with Ron then returned home for a couple of weeks at home. Harry wondered how much she had informed her mother and father about the whole war subject, and if so, how they had taken it. They seemed like very nice people, but how would they react to their daughter's apparent relevance to a dangerous situation? Would they try and keep her home? Harry knew how Hermione wouldn't stand it if such a thing even occurred to her parents, but what if they really insisted…Harry would certainly miss her…

A sudden pang of loneliness drove through him as he thought about -. No, he couldn't stand it. He missed Sirius so badly that he wanted to do something, anything…but what Luna had said made him feel a little better. It wasn't as though he was permanently separated from Sirius for eternity. _I wish…I hope that you can hear me, Sirius._


	3. Chapter III

**Harry Potter and the Shadow of Despair**

**Chapter III **

**Disclaimer: I know I don't own this…please don't remind me.**

**A.N.: If you didn't see already, there were major changes to Chapters II and I. You may want to read those over again, as they're incredibly short.**

People bustled all around, eager to get to their destinations. Baggage was hoisted, pulled, carried, dragged, and rolled with their owners, the one common factor among all the people. Set back from the whole scene, the girl stood near a wall, paying no notice to the Starbucks and its customers nearby. Her eyes darted back and forth, but her mind was not really focusing on what she was seeing. She was mentally going over a list in her mind, making sure she still had all the things she needed to make her getaway: ticket, money, fake passport, etc. What with the negative feedback system her eyes were on, she didn't perceive a figure buy a coffee but linger unnecessarily, his eyes trained on her.

Her thoughts drifted over to her previous situations. Of the lights, the incantations. Of the pain, the feelers of it traveling through her body. Of her jaw clenched in an effort not to scream. She almost felt some self-pity for herself, before she jerked her mind out of it. _Have I come this far only to be brought down by something like that?_ she asked herself. _So my life's different from others'. I can deal._

"Flight 117 is now boarding," a voice said over the intercom.

She heard the message and set off to her terminal, but not before looking for a speaker. _Why is it_, she asked herself, _that people have to see something when it's talking to you, even if it's some piece of technology?_

Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a hand reach into a pocket. She saw it draw a wand, and start the beginning of a wave her eyes had seen too many times before.

"_Crucio_!" the man's voice shouted. The girl ducked, spun around, and shot a well-aimed spell of her own at his hand, causing him to spill his coffee on himself and drop his wand. She darted under a table while various spells with various effects were aimed at her along with a colorful set of curses (the insulting kind), the latter probably due to the coffee incident. Luckily, she made it to the big crowd of people and wove between them, not daring to look back. Other civilians on the spot were screaming, shouting, and getting hit with other spells. The Ministry was going to have a problem with these guys…

A number of people bumped into her in her frenzied race to get out of there. They threw an assortment of annoyed phrases at her, but she didn't notice. She cursed herself, and she cursed her father. This was _his_ fault, no doubt about it.

A nasty surprise awaited her at the north main doors of the airport: two of _them_ were standing there, looking for her. She immediately ducked behind a trashcan, attracting strange looks from people nearby.

Her eyes searched for an appropriate escape route. The man and the woman standing there had a perfect view of the entire "intersection". How they hadn't already spotted her before, she had no clue of. She took in a look at her passages for escape. There was Terminal 5, Terminal 6, Terminal 12 (How did that get there?), Terminal 4, Terminal 3…Wait a minute! Her flight was supposed to be leaving from Terminal 4. She checked her ticket. Yes! That was it.

The distance from her to Terminal 4 was about 100 meters. Could she make it? Should she take the chance? …Yes.

She tensed her legs, getting ready…GO! She shot out from the trashcan, barreling through a loving couple smooching. The man and woman posted to watch at the gates perceived her movement and drew their wands. She strained with the effort, sprinting towards the terminal as fast as she could. A spell shattered a plant feeder near her. Okay, maybe that wasn't her fastest. 70 meters to go, 60, 50, 40…

Out of nowhere, a third man stepped out. He had a manic glint in his eye as he aimed his wand at her and opened his mouth, saying the first part of the spell…The girl swerved to the right, heading towards Terminal 6. She circled around a tree with benches clustered about it before going into Terminal 5 at the last minute. Hopefully the man hadn't seen her drastic change in direction.

Yes! He was headed into Terminal 6 accompanied by some other of her hunters. She gasped for air before sneaking onto the plane with a big family after having stolen another ticket from someone. Oh yeah! She had landed a seat in first class! _Maybe my luck's changing_, she thought wistfully. _Maybe it won't be like this forever._

Stepping off the plane, she smiled inwardly. That had been a good flight! She had enjoyed the view, the food, and the free movies! Although all of the people she ever normally came in contact with detested Muggles and would have loathed sitting next to one, she had found that they were actually humorous and sociable. Plus, they knew how to make a plane ride seriously enjoyable!

She looked around, taking in the surrounding terminal. London, huh, she thought. I can handle that.

She set out of the airport, skipping past security and picking pockets here and there for some money.

Harry was having the usual problems getting to King's Cross concerning the Dursley's, but he was suppressing the urge to either smack or hex them. Dudley "unfortunately" hadn't been able to make it, but that suited Harry just fine. He wouldn't have had it any other way.

Harry got his belongings onto a trolley and carried them to the column he needed to enter through. Waiting for the right moment, he went through to Platform 9 3/4, a familiar sight he was quite eager to see. He quickly caught up with Hermione, who looked…taller. Crookshanks was as fluffy as ever, but also looked a little…bigger, but in a horizontal manner.

"Have you seen Ron?" Harry asked after a brief update on each other's lives had taken place.

"Sorry, but no," Hermione replied, looking around hopefully. "He'd better get here soon or he's miss the train completely! And that would _not_ be good for him, if you know what I mean."

Ron had recently been a little on the depressed side. He claimed it was from spending so much time around his huge family, but Harry and Hermione both thought it was something a little deeper than that.

Harry nodded in agreement, joining Hermione in looking out for Ron. He quickly caught sight of Neville saying goodbye to his grandmother, but not before being pestered to death.

"-And don't forget your-"

"Hi, Harry!" Neville said, obviously eager to get away from his grandmother.

"Hi, Neville," Harry said in answer, pitying Neville and stepping aside for a conversation so that he wouldn't be dead before he even reached the train. Needless to say, the talk didn't last very long: only until Neville's grandmother left. Harry then went back to reacquainting himself with classmates he hadn't seen since last school year, all the while looking out for Ron.

The girl, having spent her morning spending the stolen money on everything from food to clothes to books, considered it a day well spent. Not to mention the money well spent, as it wasn't even hers to begin with. Skimming through a travel pamphlet, she bumped into a pedestrian walking the other way.

"Oh, sorry, mate- er, ma'am," he said. She didn't even say anything, as it seemed like a completely pointless thing to do, and besides, she wasn't used to apologizing for anything without being forced to do so.

However, she suddenly heard a train whistle coming from behind her. She turned around and noticed King's Cross Station a few blocks over. But still, a _whistle_? That was kind of odd.

She turned around and followed the "pedestrian". He had caught up to his HUMUNGO-size family and was struggling to keep up with them as they were all hurrying as fast as they possibly could to get to the train station, from the sound of it.

"Hurry, boys, or we'll be late!" the rather plump mother figure said.

The boy was practically sprinting now to keep up, and the tiny owl he was carrying in a cage wasn't appreciating it too much. It began hooting wildly and flapping around in its cage until it hit its head really hard on the top.

The whole family was in such a mess that they didn't notice the girl following them at a safe pace (not so much to keep them from seeing her but to prevent her from being whacked in the face by a stray arm). They entered the train station, hustled to a platform, and…walked through a column?

The girl watched in amazement as the entire family took turns going through the solid column. _Interesting usage of magic_, she thought. _That could come in handy._ After the family had entered through, she took the liberty of walking through herself, coming out on a platform with a huge, whistling train about to leave.

_So _that's_ where the whistle was coming from, _she thought. _Then again, I must still be suffering from the magic-sensitivity spell if I could hear it through a magic barrier…_

_Why not go along? _With the train leaving the platform, she made an important on-the-spot decision. She jumped onto the train just as it left the area.

**A.N.: I'm glad I got that over with. Now I can actually go into the real story a little deeper… Hopefully it won't take too long to see the serious action.**

**As always…REVIEW! **


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